Chapter 254: Blood Moon Appears

The giant skeleton's massive body, like an endless abyss, sucked in countless white bones, and when it roared again, rolling black qi surged from its surface, spinning wildly before wrapping it into a black giant cocoon.

Layers of spiritual runes flickered across the cocoon's surface, while pained cries echoed from within.

After a stick of incense burned, there was a sudden "boom."

The cocoon shattered open, revealing the giant skeleton once more—its once-damaged body now fully restored, and even its four arms now gripping four brand-new magical artifacts: a knife, a hammer, a shield, and a banner.

The giant skeleton's aura once again became terrifyingly potent.

"Congratulations, Ancestor, on your great victory over a formidable foe—your divine might reaches the heavens!"

Seeing this, the dozen or so Black Soul Sect disciples, as if they had practiced this countless times, immediately knelt halfway before the giant skeleton and spoke in unison.

"Hmph, that demon was too quick to escape, but it took a direct hit from my life-artifact's projection—it's probably not dead, but surely severely wounded."

That demon must be the guardian beast of the Jialan relics. Now, once we break this array, nothing will stand in our way."

Listening to his disciples' flattery, the giant skeleton slightly moved its restored massive frame, glanced at the massive array diagram beside it, and let out a series of eerie laughs.

No sooner had he spoken than he flung the four artifacts high into the air, muttered incantations, and pointed with all four hands toward the sky.

"Whoosh." "Whoosh." "Whoosh." "Whoosh."

The four temporary bone artifacts, rapidly swelling in midair, glowed with blinding black radiance, spun wildly, and erupted into rolling black qi, transforming into four massive black mist orbs the size of houses, which plummeted from the sky like colossal meteorites, crashing down onto the silver light barrier covering the array diagram.

Since there was no longer any fear of demonic creatures interfering, the Black Soul Sect's Jin Dan Ancestor fully unleashed his power, channeling every ounce of his spiritual energy to drive the four artifacts, determined to shatter the array's core in one blow.

"Boom—boom—boom!"

Under the relentless barrage of the four enlarged artifacts, the silver light barrier trembled violently within moments, its surface cracking with countless fine fissures—more and more, larger and larger.

In just a short while, the silver barrier flashed and shattered, fully exposing the towering pillar standing within.

Seeing this, the giant skeleton let out another eerie laugh, urged the four artifacts in the air, and immediately the four black mist orbs above plunged toward the towering pillar at the array's center.

…

Wang Yu flashed forward, bursting out of the swirling white mist and escaping the entire array, arriving beyond the mist sea.

He gazed at the lush green grass nearby and burst into wild laughter.

But almost instantly, a deafening roar erupted from behind the mist sea, and the entire earth trembled violently.

Wang Yu was startled, shook his sleeve, and instantly summoned a black iron boat, then leapt onto it with a single motion, raising one hand to form a hand seal.

The iron boat immediately soared into the air.

Only then did he turn to look back in surprise at the direction of the array.

Behind him, the mist sea churned violently, countless semi-transparent giant rune shadows emerging one after another, then shattering and vanishing.

At the same time, the white mist within the array dissipated and diminished at a visibly rapid pace.

In just a few breaths, the boundless mist sea vanished entirely, revealing a vast expanse of desolate yellow land.

Before Wang Yu could fully take in the scene, a thunderous roar came from a distant corner of the former array, followed by the rise of a colossal black mist column—rising higher and wider, so immense that everyone within dozens of li could clearly see it.

Wang Yu's expression changed slightly; without hesitation, he stomped his foot on the iron boat, pouring all his spiritual energy into it.

With a "whoosh."

The iron boat instantly transformed into a black orb of light and shot through the sky.

…

"Hummm." "Hummm."

The instant the outer mist sea array dissolved,

in the seven hidden chambers beneath the ruins of Jialan Temple, the ground collapsed, and from below, each chamber revealed a blood-red array diagram.

The moment they appeared, they hummed in resonance with one another; then, from their centers, a flash of crimson light shot up, spewing a blood-tinged light column toward the sky, which vanished in an instant, absorbed into the moon hanging above.

The crescent moon, previously only stained with a few splashes of red, instantly turned blood-red, its surface dripping with crimson light, and in the next moment, everyone in the ruins heard a faint sound like shattering porcelain.

"Crack."

The blood-red crescent moon shattered in midair.

Pieces of blood-red fragments fell swiftly from the sky, growing larger and thinner, transforming within moments into vast sheets of gauzy crimson veils that enveloped the entire ruins beneath them.

In the center of the desolate land, a vast expanse of ruins shrouded in faint crimson light stood out unmistakably.

Almost all demonic cultivators immediately rushed toward it.

…

Wang Yu flew over thirty li without stopping, crossing several mountain ranges on his iron boat; only when he saw the moon still silver-white did he finally exhale, retracting most of his spiritual energy and slowing his speed.

Here, he was likely safe.

But just then, he sensed a faint whooshing sound behind him—as if something was chasing him.

Wang Yu froze, turned around again, and within his pupils, a crystalline light flickered as he activated his hyper-mode.

With his powerful spiritual sense and terrifying vision, he clearly saw what was approaching—and his face showed surprise.

It was a massive emerald-green leaf, glowing with a green aura, hurtling toward him at astonishing speed.

On the leaf, three slender silhouettes were barely visible; two of them were women he recognized—Ye Zhen and the joyful palace matron who wielded the Tianxiang Fan.

The third woman wore a pink long robe and a white veil over her face, obscuring her features, yet her eyes, faintly visible, sparkled like stars—gazing upon them, one could not help but be drawn in, unable to look away.

Wang Yu's crystalline gaze flickered; relying on the hyper-mode's supreme rationality, he immediately averted his eyes, then glanced again at the joyful palace matron.

In her hand, she was clearly holding the white positioning crystal ball.

The last time they saw him, they fled like they'd seen a ghost, desperate to escape—yet now they dared openly chase him down with their artifacts.

Clearly, their confidence rested on this third woman.

Wang Yu's spiritual sense instinctively swept over a storage pouch at his waist, sensing the blood-mushroom black box resting safely inside; he flipped his hand, and a green-and-red long blade appeared in his grip. He traced his fingers along the blade's edge, his expression turning thoughtful.